President Obama's reelection campaign released a new Web ad Monday playing up the president's jobs record on the heels of a January report showing better-than-expected employment growth.
The ad features a chart of private-sector monthly job growth that the Obama administration has been using to emphasize progress in the economic recovery.
"Faced with a deep recession, President Obama moved quickly to help our economy recover," the ad's narrator says. "There's more work to do, but you might be surprised to hear the progress we've made. Twenty-three straight months of jobs growth, nearly 3.7 million jobs added."
As the narrator is speaking, the graph fills in, depicting employment growth with arrows showing decline during the Bush administration and gains under Obama. The ad then refers supporters to a website with an annotated version of the graph that can be shared via social media and corresponding talking points.
Democrats believe that continued job growth could neutralize Republicans' most effective line of attack in the 2012 elections: the country's continued economic turmoil.
Obama said the economy was "growing stronger," and encouraged Congress to pass an extension of the payroll tax benefit during a speech last week in Arlington, Va.
“Now’s not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy. Now’s the time for action. Do not slow down the recovery that we’re on. Don’t muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction," Obama said.
Alan Krueger, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House, said the report provided “further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
But Mitt Romney, Obama's likely opponent in the general election, said that the country could "do better" in a statement released last week.
“We welcome the fact that jobs were created and unemployment declined,” Romney said. “Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery.”
